SKorean leader visits islets, draws Japan protestSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president has made a surprise, election-year visit to islets also claimed by Japan, which quickly reasserted its sovereignty there, recalled its ambassador from Seoul and warned that the trip would worsen the countries' strained relations. President Lee Myung-bak's trip Friday to the tiny, rocky outcroppings between the countries was the first by a South Korean president, officials in his office said. It...

Syrian rebels low on guns as regime strikes AleppoAZAZ, Syria (AP) — Syrian rebels were running low on ammunition and guns Friday as government forces tried to consolidate their control over Aleppo, the country's largest city and a deadly battleground for more than two weeks. The seemingly intractable, 17-month-old conflict in Syria has defied all international attempts to calm the bloodshed. Rebels and activists said Friday they have had enough of diplomacy and appealed to the international ...

New middle class driving Brazil economic makeoverRIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The orthodontist bent intently over Flavia Soares da Costa's open mouth, tightening the glimmering silver brackets that are remaking her smile. Not long ago, it would have been all but unthinkable for the 33-year-old former secretary and single mother to undergo such pricey dental work. But Costa's fortunes have recently improved, with a promotion and a raise that brought her disposable income. In fact, an estimated 40 mi...

Required viewing: Cambodian PM speaks for 5 hoursPHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — He’s no Castro or Chavez, but Asia’s longest serving ruler has set what appears to be a personal record for longest public speech: 5 hours and 20 minutes. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen spoke to the lower house of parliament in a nationally televised speech Thursday that was mandatory viewing for civil servants. Government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said he believed it was Hun Sen’s longest speech in 27 years as pr...

US starts landmark Agent Orange cleanup in VietnamDANANG, Vietnam (AP) — Vo Duoc fights back tears while sharing the news that broke his heart: A few days ago he received test results confirming he and 11 family members have elevated levels of dioxin lingering in their blood. The family lives in a two-story house near a former U.S. military base in Danang where the defoliant Agent Orange was stored during the Vietnam War, which ended nearly four decades ago. Duoc, 58, sells steel for a living...

Syrian troops push into Aleppo to oust rebelsTEL RIFAT, Syria (AP) — Syria launched a ground assault Wednesday on rebel-held areas of the besieged city of Aleppo, the center of battles between government forces and opposition fighters for more than two weeks. It was not immediately clear if the offensive was “the mother of all battles” that Syria’s state-controlled media vowed last month would take place for control of Aleppo. In recent weeks, the regime’s blistering attacks on rebel pos...

Syrian refugee camps swell as frustrations riseYAYLADAGI, Turkey (AP) — His two-story house with a garden became a military post when government forces moved into his village in northeastern Syria. More than a year has passed for Amin Idlibi and his family, now sharing a crowded tent in a Turkish refugee camp, and the limbo of more than 250,000 others who have fled Syria’s civil war into neighboring countries. “Time passes so slowly here as we wait to return home,” said Idlibi, a 58-year-o...

Egypt fires intelligence chief over Sinai attackCAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s president fired his intelligence chief on Wednesday for failing to act on an Israeli warning of an imminent attack days before militants stormed a border post in the Sinai Peninsula and killed 16 soldiers. The dismissal, which followed Egyptian airstrikes against Sinai militants, also marked a bold attempt by the Islamist leader to deflect popular anger over the attack. It pointed to a surprising level of cooperation with ...

Russia: Underground sect charged with abuseMOSCOW (AP) — A self-proclaimed prophet had a vision from God: He would build an Islamic caliphate under the earth. The digging began about a decade ago and 70 followers soon moved into an eight-level subterranean honeycomb of cramped cells with no light, heat or ventilation. Children were born. They, too, lived in the cold underground cells for many years — until authorities raided the compound last week and freed the 27 sons and daughters of...

Murder trial of wife of Chinese politician beginsHEFEI, China (AP) — The wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai stood trial Thursday for the murder of a British former associate in a tightly orchestrated proceeding that marks a key step toward resolving the messiest scandal the leadership has faced in two decades. Gu Kailai and a household aide faced charges of murdering Neil Heywood, a British businessman who had close ties to the Bo family, in a trial at the Hefei Intermediate Peopl...

Hurricane Ernesto bores in on coast of YucatanCANCUN, Mexico (AP) — Hundreds of tourists evacuated beach resorts along Mexico’s Caribbean coast as Hurricane Ernesto closed in for a Tuesday night landfall near Mexico’s border with Belize, bringing the threat of powerful winds and torrential rains. Ernesto strengthened from a tropical storm earlier in the day, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it had sustained winds of 85 mph (140 kph) by early evening and was moving west-northwes...

Mexico finds 100s of bones in unusual Aztec burialMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican archaeologists say they have found an unprecedented human burial in which the skeleton of a young woman is surrounded by piles of 1,789 human bones in Mexico City’s Templo Mayor. Researchers found the burial about five meters (15 feet) below the surface, next to the remains of what may have been a “sacred tree” at one edge of the plaza, the most sacred site of the Aztec capital. The National Institute of Anthropology...

Heavy rains submerge Philippine capital, killing 9MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Relentless rains submerged half of the sprawling Philippine capital, triggered a landslide that killed nine people and sent emergency crews scrambling to rescue tens of thousands of residents, some of whom called media outlets pleading for help. The deluge, the worst to hit Manila since 2009 when hundreds died in rampaging flash floods, was set off by the seasonal monsoon that overflowed major dams and rivers in the ...

Syria’s Assad returns to public eye with ally IranBEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad made his first appearance on state TV in nearly three weeks Tuesday in a show of solidarity with a senior Iranian envoy, even as the U.S. urged stepped up international planning for the regime’s collapse. The visit to Damascus by the highest-ranking Iranian official since the uprising began coincided with a warning by an increasingly agitated Tehran that it holds the U.S. responsible for the fate of ...

19 killed at central Nigeria church Bible studyABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Three men entered a central Nigerian church just before Bible study began, but instead of joining the worship service they opened fire, killing at least 19 people in an attack that shows that violence is spreading in the divided nation. Witnesses and the military described a chaotic, blood-soaked scene at the Deeper Life evangelical church in Otite, a quiet neighborhood on the outskirts of the city of Okene, 250 kilometer...

Punk rockers perform anti-Putin protestsMOSCOW (AP) — Three feminist punk rockers in Russia may face years in prison for barging into Moscow’s main cathedral to sing a song against Vladimir Putin as he set out to reclaim the presidency. Wearing ski masks and miniskirts in garish colors, the Pussy Riot band members danced and high-kicked while belting out this refrain: Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away. Put Putin away, put Putin away. The case has caused international outrag...

Olympic finale: Phelps helps US win medley relayLONDON (AP) — Five things to know about Saturday, Day 8 of the London Olympics: • One last splash: Phelps grabs 22nd medal with U.S. medley relay win. • Britannia you rock! An Olympic day to remember for the hosts. • Pistorius makes 400 semis in Olympic debut. • LeBron and Co. pushed in U.S. hoops win over Lithuania. • Serena Williams gets a Golden Slam, beats Sharapova in tennis final. When it was over, Michael Phelps hugged his teammates, th...

Tropical Storm Ernesto heads toward JamaicaKINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Tropical Storm Ernesto became less organized as it moved over open waters in the Caribbean late Saturday and wasn’t expected to gain strength as it headed for a pass south of Jamaica on Sunday. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ernesto still could grow into a hurricane as it swirled along a course forecast to take it over the coastal resorts of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by Wednesday. With forecasters predicting ...

Gunmen kidnap Iranians just outside Syrian capitalBEIRUT (AP) — Gunmen snatched 47 Iranian pilgrims just outside Damascus on Saturday in a brazen attack that revealed the growing instability at the center of President Bashar Assad’s power. The abduction came as Syrian troops moved to crush one of the last rebel-dominated neighborhoods in the capital, shelling the area heavily. No group immediately claimed responsibility, although Iranian state media blamed the rebels fighting the Assad regime...

Afghan parliament votes to oust key ministersKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan parliament voted Saturday to dismiss the country’s defense and interior ministers, a move that threatens to throw the country’s security apparatus into confusion as foreign forces withdraw. The vote demanded the dismissal of two of President Hamid Karzai’s key security lieutenants: Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, one of the top Afghan officials most trusted by Washington, and Interior Minister Bismulla...